HOUSTON – (Nov. 30, 2017) – The eyes of the energy world are turned to the 173rd OPEC Meeting in Vienna today, which will determine the future levels for the cartel’s oil production output.

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Jim Krane, the Wallace S. Wilson Fellow for Energy Studies at Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy, is available to discuss the key issues at play at the meeting and their implications for both the United States’ and global oil markets. Krane, a member of the institute’s Center for Energy Studies, specializes in energy geopolitics and energy consumption in Saudi Arabia and the Middle East.

“The OPEC producers and Russia have pulled off the impressive feat of getting nearly two dozen countries to agree to cut back their oil production in hopes of choking off the oversupply that has depressed oil prices for so long,” Krane said. “Problem is, the few thousand independent oil producers in the U.S. oil patch don’t play along. If prices respond, U.S. producers can be expected to make the most of it — not by cutting back, but by ramping up and undercutting all of OPEC’s hard work. It’s as if OPEC were providing a chauffeured limousine for U.S. crude oil producers to steal its share of the market.”

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For more information or to schedule an interview with Krane, contact Jeff Falk, associate director of national media relations at Rice, at jfalk@rice.edu or 713-348-6775. The Baker Institute has a radio and television studio available.

Founded in 1993, Rice University’s Baker Institute ranks among the top five university-affiliated think tanks in the world. As a premier nonpartisan think tank, the institute conducts research on domestic and foreign policy issues with the goal of bridging the gap between the theory and practice of public policy. The institute’s strong track record of achievement reflects the work of its endowed fellows, Rice University faculty scholars and staff, coupled with its outreach to the Rice student body through fellow-taught classes — including a public policy course — and student leadership and internship programs. Learn more about the institute at www.bakerinstitute.org or on the institute’s blog, http://blogs.chron.com/bakerblog.